Daily Times

Recent announcement of launching an awareness campaign by the Ministry of Human Rights and endorsed by the Council of Islamic Ideology to educate people about the rights of women to inheritance under Islamic jurisprudence and the constitution is music to the ears for thousands of activists in the country.

The right to own and control land is at the forefront of the inheritance rights that the women have been denied for a long time in our country. The existing statutory, customary and religious laws as well as practices are affecting women’s inheritance rights in Pakistan. The implementation of statutory laws supporting women’s inheritance rights are difficult to implement due to long held societal perceptions as well as acceptance and support for customary and religious practices.

Women in Pakistani, particularly in rural areas face many challenges and often their role is undervalued and unpaid. Low priority to girls education, limited ability to enter into waged employment, lack of control over income and assets, lack of decision making power within households, limited mobility, low level of participation in public life and high level of violence against women are some of the factors that hinder opportunities and access of women to have legitimate share of resources including inheritance and agriculture land. In addition, most agriculture extension programmes focus on men and participation of women in agriculture extension activities is not encouraged. Thus, due to lack of knowledge and credit, women participation in decision making with regard to farm activities is extremely limited.

The constitution of Pakistan clearly stipulates equal rights for women including right to own and control land. Pakistan has also ratified several international conventions promoting gender equality such as CEDAW and ILO core convention 100 on equal remuneration for women. However, the Constitution offers no direct provision on women’s right to inherit other than guarantees and principles of policy to ensure justice without discrimination.

It is surprising to note that no data is available on the extent of women’s access and control over land in Pakistan. The official documents including census, household panel surveys and other official surveys do not include gender disaggregated data pertaining to the women’s access and control over land. However, anecdotal evidences suggest very few women own land and even fewer control land. One of the research studies in Pakistan indicates that women own only three percent of the agricultural plots. Another study of women in Punjab suggests that 10 percent of the women reported to have land ownership; however, less than three percent of the women reported to have access to agriculture inputs, cultivation, water/irrigation, land tenure, right to sell/purchase land and visits from extension services.

The land and inheritance rights in Pakistan are regulated by an intricate combination of civil, Islamic and customary laws where civil laws such as Contract Act 1872, the Transfer of Property Act 1882 and the Registration Act 1908, largely governs “ownership and transfer of property are gender natural however inheritance rights are subject to Muslim Personal Law 1962” enforced under Sharia law (SDPI 2008a, p.1).

The inheritance for women is a complex and multi-faced issue impacting lives of countless women in Pakistan. “Inheritance right is one of the most ignored gender issues owing to biased interpretations of religious directives and deep-rooted patriarchal customary practices denying women their due right. If they are at all given a share in inheritance, often possession and authority over it is denied. This problem is aggravated owing to inadequate policies/laws, inefficient implementation, enforcement system and absence of monitoring mechanism. Lack of political will is also a contributing factor to this situation” (NCSW 2005, p.1).

The inheritance for women is a complex and multi-faced issue impacting lives of countless women in Pakistan. “Inheritance right is one of the most ignored gender issues owing to biased interpretations of religious directives and deep-rooted patriarchal customary practices denying women their due right”

Women’s ability to own and control land in Pakistan is determined by statutory, religious and customary laws. Statutory laws may be in favour of women owning land but they cannot be enforced in a context where customary and religious laws prevail. The way women are perceived by society in general limits the possibilities for women to exercise their ownership and control rights. Moreover, women may not aware of the legislative and protective measures that have been instituted to ensure property rights and thus may not seek recourse when needed (Pallas, 2011, p.271) due to lack of awareness and ignorance.

It is widely accepted that women are denied their rights to hold land titles, manipulated over land inheritance and expected to and sometimes pressurised to surrender their land inheritance rights in favour of the male members of their families.

Women were never registered as tenants and so were not in the receiving end of any of Pakistan’s land reform and land redistribution attempts. They only inadvertently benefitted through the ceiling on land holdings which caused large landowners to divide their property between relatives so as to keep the property secure. Since this ruling by the court, all land redistribution is done through irrigating state land and providing land titles. In 2008, the Government of Sindh led by the People’s Party created a program to redistribute uncultivated state land primarily to women.

Women’s ownership of property is curtailed by the fact that there is no law to allow women to claim land acquired by her husband during marriage. In case, if a woman has paid for such property in cash she can file a case under benami (anonymous) but such cases are difficult to prove. In the same vein, divorced women are not entitled to receive support from their husbands (SDPI, 2008, p.9).

The main conceptual hindrance to equality in Islamic inheritance law is the idea that the woman should receive half the share of the man. Many of the arguments and rationalizations for this law may no longer be applicable. It would be useful to encourage people to see this as a necessary minimum.

Women may be forced to relinquish their rights in what is known as Haq Bukhshwana, a practice which can be found in KP, Balochistan and Sindh. Women are never married or married to the Qur’an to prevent transfer of property. In certain parts of the country it may be customarily unacceptable for women to own any property and even if she is the sole surviving heir, property will transfer to a distant relative. Women will be considered as property themselves and their guardianship is taken over by other men. Women, generally, do not claim their inheritance without some amount of male or familial support. If they do so without any support they will be censured and considered an outcast. In extreme cases, they may have to face violence like being killed as kari in Sindh.

Women may own land in name but may not be able to control it. Purdah of varying degrees will prevent them from managing this land. This purdah will include such measures as veiling, seclusion, limited mobility and prevention from interacting with strangers or in public. Purdah was considered a crucial reason for why women could not manage land by male respondents in one survey. But purdah, mandatory under customary law, also prevented women from being able to build these skills.

The writer has a Masters degree from London School of Economics (LSE) and a PhD from Oxford Brookes University and worked extensively in Pakistani education sector. He is currently working as an External Consultant for the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. He can be contacted at dr.shakil.ghori@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, December 7^th 2018.